Believing the Lie

Inspector Lynley Series, Book 17

#1 New York Times bestselling author of A Banquet of Consequences Elizabeth George has millions of fans following her Inspector Lynley series. As USA Today put it, "It's tough to resist George's storytelling, once hooked." With Believing the Lie, she's poised to hook countless more.Inspector Thomas Lynley is mystified when he's sent undercover to investigate the death of Ian Cresswell at the request of the man's uncle, the wealthy and influential Bernard Fairclough. The death has been ruled an accidental drowning, and nothing on the surface indicates otherwise. But when Lynley enlists the help of his friends Simon and Deborah St. James, the trio's digging soon reveals that the Fairclough clan is awash in secrets, lies, and motives.Deborah's investigation of the prime suspect—Bernard's prodigal son Nicholas, a recovering drug addict—leads her to Nicholas's wife, a woman with whom she feels a kinship, a woman as fiercely protective as she is beautiful. Lynley and Simon delve for information from the rest of the family, including the victim's bitter ex-wife and the man he left her for, and Bernard himself. As the investigation escalates, the Fairclough family's veneer cracks, with deception and self-delusion threatening to destroy everyone from the Fairclough patriarch to Tim, the troubled son Ian left behind.

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I wish I'd read all of the comments that people left on this site before I read the book, because I may not have wasted my time with it. I was very disappointed with the ending, and the character of Deborah is becoming very annoying and reminiscent of Nancy Drew (only in this case, she's no where close to solving anything).

i absolutely agree with "missmiss".
george has lost her touch.
linley is becoming quite uninteresting, common, unrefined, almost vulgar; and havers' appearance is so totally exagerated and so often described it's becoming dull. yes, the book is way too long, and for no valid reason (s).
i'll try the following book, hoping george is back to her previoius finesse...

Ms. George seems to have lost her touch. In &quot;Believing the Lie&quot; she seemed to want to include every sub-culture that she could: alcoholics, child porn., messed up kids, a nympho. mother, bisexuals and gays. Granted we are surrounded by all these groups, often in the news. However, when I am reading a book for enjoyment, and am hoping for a good Lynley mystery, I do not want to read about a whole mess of life's harsh realities. We get enough of it in the daily news. Neither have I read many complimentary reviews about her newest book. I hope she isn't losing her touch. That would be disappointing.

I love the inpector Lynley movies and this was the first book with him that I have read. Over all I found it disappointing compared to the movies which I think are great - book I would give a less thatn glowing rating. It is too long winded and has too much irrelavant minucia. I found the rape of the 14 year old very disturbing. I dont see what the big deal is about her writing style, she is too repeative and drones on and on. Maybe a tough editor could hash it out.

This book could easily withstand a 300 page edit and the thin plot would still hold up. What a disappointment! Trite, immature characters and the suggestion of serious child neglect blithely 'fixed' by having the damaged children adopted by cousins. Lots of 'charming' English description of the Lake District which, I suppose, entertains an untraveled insular audience but this is pages of off-putting and useless filler for a cosmopolitan reader. The author is losing her touch. Maybe she should quit writing while she still has a reputation to uphold.

I didn't enjoy this book nearly as much as her earlier ones. Too much melodrama with the mystery. And I absolutely agree that her characters were "jumping the shark". Tommy not only covering for an alcoholic supervisor, but having an affair with her? And Deborah suddenly acts like a spoiled child.

This is the first time I've read a book
by this author. I found the book rather long and boring at times, but at other times quite delightful.
I will read another of her books for sure...especially the ones that involved Det. Lynley.
The ending was a bit of a downer.